Several reasons exist for knowing a railcar's weight before it is inserted into a train, namely for billing purposes when product is sold by weight (Custody Transfer), to track total weight of the railcar (the consist) so appropriate locomotive power can be scheduled to pull the train appropriately, and to ascertain the loaded status of the railcar while at destination facility being unloaded.
Currently, in order to capture weight after loading, railcars are pulled by a switcher engine to a permanent Weigh Bridge, generally somewhere on the customer's facility. The information is then keyed into the operator's database and sent to the appropriate location.
An object of the invention is to improve systems for weighing railcars.